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Biography |
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Paul Guigou was born in the South of France in Villars in 1834 and died in Paris in 1871. He spent his life working in the cities and regions around Marseille and Paris, inspired by the difference between the two. |
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The former had a local, Mediterranean atmosphere and the latter, Paris, was in the 19th century a lively, cosmopolitan, artistic centre. Together they provided him with a range of subjects to work with. |
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Studying under Loubon in Marseille, he became involved in the Ecole Provencale. This evolved from the painter Constantin and focussed on local artists and the Provencal landscape. |
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He exhibited regularly in Marseille between 1856 and 1867 and encountered the work of Corot and d’Aligny through this. As an artist searching to render the quality of light and atmosphere of his landscape, Corot would have held particular resonance for him. He was also hugely influenced by Courbet, whose work he came across on his first visit to Paris in 1859. He moved to Paris in 1862 and continued developing his style – a truth to nature along with sincerity of vision and a deep understanding of volume and space. |
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He produced a limited body of work, often on small panels and though his working life was brief (he died prematurely of complications from a cold) he was the most successful artist emerging from Provence of his time. |
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His work can be seen in numerous public collections including the Louvre and the Petit Palais in Paris, the Beaux Arts in Geneva, and the Musée Granet in Aix en Provence. |
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The Durance is the most important river in Provence eventually leading to the Rhone. Guigou painted above all in the Vallee de la Durance which spans the Haute Alpes through to Provence and the Vaucluse. |
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